Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, along with Anthony Edwards and Draymond Green, spoke with the NBA and revealed their predictions ahead of the first-ever NBA In-Season Tournament, tipping off during the Friday slate of games.
They went group by group, with Durant picking the 76ers as the winner from East A and the Bucks as the winner from East B. Curry picked the Warriors to win their West C matchups but also named the Lakers as the team that’ll win the West wildcard.
Anthony Edwards joined to pick the Clippers over the Nuggets in West Group B while claiming the Suns and the Magic will win the wildcard berth in their respective conference. Meanwhile, Draymond Green picked Boston to win East C, the Lakers to win West A, and the Clippers in West B. His pick for the wildcard in the West was the Nuggets.
"What team do you see coming out of the West as the wildcard?"
Steph Curry: "The Lakers."
Kevin Durant, Steph, Anthony Edwards, and Draymond Green make their picks for the FIRST ever NBA Cup 🏆👀
(via @ESPNNBA)pic.twitter.com/mQ5AqGqQHN
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) November 2, 2023
The In-Season Tournament will be incredibly exciting, as it does add some flavor to what would’ve been normal NBA game nights. With this coming very early into the year, it also allows fans to watch highly competitive action within the first weeks of the season coming back.
The tournament is modeled on the principles of soccer teams around the world playing different domestic competitions outside their league throughout the season. While a culture of appreciating the in-season tournament needs to be built, it’s clear that most players and coaches around the NBA seem motivated to be the first ones to lay their hands on this shiny new trophy.
Everything You Need To Know About The NBA In-Season Tournament
The In-Season Tournament will have all 30 teams in the league split into six groups of five teams. The 15 Eastern teams occupy three groups and the same applies to the 15 Western teams. Here is a quick recap of all the groups for this year’s edition.
West Group A: Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, Utah Jazz, Portland Trail Blazers.
West Group B: Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets.
West Group C: Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs.
East Group A: Philadelphia 76ers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons.
East Group B: Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards, Charlotte Hornets.
East Group C: Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic.
The best team from each group will make it to the second round, along with one wildcard team from each Conference, to make it an eight-legged single-elimination knockout round. All the games played up until the Finals will count towards every team’s regular-season schedule, with only the In-Season Tournament Final being an extra game.
The Final Four will be played in Las Vegas, including the Final. For now, Vegas is a neutral venue which would allow both teams in the Finals to enjoy a mixed crowd. Using regular-season fixtures to decide results in the tournament is great given the burden on NBA players and the constant agitations for a shorter season.
We don’t know if this concept will end up working in its current form, but every NBA fan should be looking forward to such a tournament. There’ll be multiple marquee matchups for the tournament’s opener tomorrow night. With the headliner being the undefeated Dallas Mavericks taking on defending champions, Denver Nuggets.
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